Forest Through Trees: Cowboys need Xavier Woods in starting lineup

Forest Through Trees: Cowboys need Xavier Woods in starting lineup

Knee-jerk reactions come fast and furious after a loss, as fans lament over the state of the team. Yes, Dallas’ loss to the Rams was unfortunate, but it was hardly catastrophic. As with any loss, though, there is also plenty room for improvement. Increased health in the form of Anthony Hitchens and Sean Lee returning for the Packers game would be huge, but there are other adjustments for the Cowboys to increase their chances for success.

Four games into the season and the Jeff Heath experiment has not worked.

Trying to replace Barry Church is a tough challenge for anyone, but in his first full-time roll on the defense, Heath has not been an adequate replacement. Byron Jones’ groin injury seems to be a thing of the past, but Heath isn’t showing any improvement. Heath seems to have come down with the missed tackle bug that plagued J.J. Wilcox in his four years with the Cowboys.

The touchdown pass to Todd Gurley was a perfect example of Heath failing to make a crucial stop because he took a bad angle. And with third safety Kavon Frazier not faring any better, now is the time for the Cowboys to turn to rookie Xavier Woods.

The Cowboys traded into the sixth round to acquire Woods, so they obviously felt good enough about him to give up their fifth-round pick in 2018. In Week 2 against the Broncos, Woods was forced into extended playing time because of injuries and was even forced to play slot cornerback. This comparison is ridiculous but as a safety, these are traits that Darren Woodson showed. If Woods can be on that type of trajectory, he is in for quite a career.

Of course as a rookie, there are growing pains Woods will need to go through as he learns the safety position at the NFL level. But four games in, and he’s going about things the right way.

Even as a cornerback, he acquitted himself well in comparison to players who were drafted to play the position.

Growing pains can be expected, but they don’t necessarily need to sacrifice the short term in order to get to greatness. The Cowboys can take a similar approach as 2016 where Woods becomes the starter and receives more snaps and Heath goes back to the rotational third safety and plays 20-30 snaps a game; this is the role he excelled in since he got into the league and the Cowboys need to play to his strengths and give Woods more opportunity to showcase his apparent talent.

With Aaron Rodgers coming to town, the Cowboys will need all hands on deck from a secondary personnel standpoint and in the last line of defense, Xavier Woods is best prepared out of any safety to help contain one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks.

If it doesn’t happen this week, there’s a good chance the Packers game could force the Cowboys to consider the move a lot more heavily over their bye week.

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